Apple Releases Java Patch for Snow Leopard

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Apple has released a Java patch for its aging Mac OS X 10.6 Snow
Leopard operating system. The release comes on the heels of the
sweeping Java software security update released by owner Oracle
Corp. earlier this week.

The move is perhaps surprising, considering Apple usually doesn't
expend much time supporting its older operating systems. Snow
Leopard was first released in 2009, and has since been followed
up with OS X 10.7 Lion in 2011 and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in
2012.

Despite Apple's efforts to get people to upgrade to the most
recent OS, more than one-quarter of Apple desktops still use Snow
Leopard. Because use of Java 7 requires Lion OS X or higher, a
significant portion of Apple's user base is stuck with Java 6.
(Oracle handles Java 7 updates for Macs; Apple also pushed out
this week's update to Lion and Mountain Lion users who still have
Java 6.)

Java is almost as ubiquitous as it is vulnerable to hacks and
bugs. Oracle originally intended to phase out support for Java 6
in February but reversed its decision following a series of
gaping security breaches that forced the company to release
emergency "out-of-band" updates. As of right now, it looks
like Oracle will continue to support the 7-year-old Java 6 for
the near future.

In addition to the Java patch, Apple added a browser security
tool to Safari 5 for Snow Leopard, and to Safari 6 for Lion and
Mountain Lion. The tool lets users designate Java browser
permissions on a site-by-site basis.

Several of the bugs fixed in this update were uncovered last
month at the Pwn2Own hacking contest, where computer experts
competed to find security flaws in Java as well as in several
browsers and other popular computing services.

You can download the patch by clicking Software Update under your
machine’s Preferences tab, or by going to Apple's Support Downloads
website. There's no word yet on whether Apple will release
future patches.

Oracle's next Java update is scheduled for June 18, which means
the patches for Lion and Mountain Lion should come out around the
same time. For how much longer Apple will continue to support
Snow Leopard, however, remains to be seen.